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A Winnipeg woman is trying to inspire people to do small acts of kindness and prove the world can be good after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut.

'Awful darkness'

Like everyone else Friday and the incredible trauma that happened in Newtown, Connecticut, broke my heart and has frozen a part of me. My mind rests with the victims and their families and it feels like I carry 27 people in my heart.

I need to do something for them, but after all my prayers have been said and a candle lit I still feel empty. I want to do more, put something good out there to combat such awful, awful darkness.

So I am challenging myself to fight back the darkness that robbed a community of so much.

— Christine McIntyre's statement on Facebook

"After seeing this and seeing so much dark we need to know there's people actively trying to push the light, to push back to do tiny bits of good," said Christine McIntyre.

On Dec. 14, Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother to death while she lay in her bed, then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 children between the ages of six and seven, as well as six teachers and administrators, before turning a gun on himself.

There were 27 victims in all, including Lanza's mother and the 26 children and adults at the school.

McIntyre has set up a Facebook page, called 27 Acts for Newtown, encouraging people to do 27 small acts of kindness in memory of those who died.

A mother of two young children, McIntyre said she hadn't felt so much public grief since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and she thought a Facebook page would encourage people to do good.

People have since been posting their acts on the Facebook page, writing about doing things from clearing snow off people's cars to helping elderly people with their groceries.